Theoretical Neuroscience: Predictive Coding of Sleep, Dreams, Loneliness and AI

By David Stephen

Sedona, AZ –Could dreams provide companionship to a lonely individual? Could dreams be distressful? What are all the benefits of dreaming? Are there differences between dreaming and imagination? Why do humans sleep? What does it mean to be lonely? How is this different from isolation? How does the human mind place all these experiences?

“How does the human mind, when the host is asleep and dreaming, build an entire world with an up, down, perspective, plot, conversation, and gravity without the use of the body’s senses?”

There are several explorations in neuroscience for answers in these directions, but the consensus is that no one knows how the brain exactly works, to place definite answers to many of these questions.

How the brain works is not simply about anatomy and physiology, which are pretty established, but how the brain designs experiences, to live in the world and to regulate the body.

Theoretical and computational neuroscience continue to explore models, mostly focused on neurons as the central elements for functions of the brain. There are, however, two subsets that can be explored towards approaching answers—electrical and chemical signals of the mind.

Theory

Human experiences by the human mind can conceptually be described as two components, one in transport—bearing and going to get, and the other, a destination—to welcome and then give.

Simply, electrical signals, in sets can be described as bearing something to be delivered, but to also pick up at the same destination, while chemical signals can be described as having something, but would be triggered to give it, after permitting what was delivered.

There are several destinations [or sets of chemical signals] on the mind. Destinations include major and minor experiences—delight, despair, smiling, loneliness, fatigue, craving, pain, hurt, all memory, all emotions, all feelings, all modulations and so forth.

Neuroscience has established that electrical signals are ions, while chemical signals are molecules. Conceptually, in a set, they both interact to result in functions and features that make experiences possible

Sleep

Conceptually, a reason humans sleep is to vary prioritization across sets of signals. What this means is that in the totality of [electrical and chemical] signals of the mind, just one set is prioritized in an instance—or has the most attention. This prioritization gives it a lead that makes the set distribute to others. It also ensures that every aspect of it can be reached and then rehearsal of how it should normally function is done, so that in the event of an anomaly, an alert is rapid—for therapeutic response.

While every possible set may not get priority in the sleep interval, those of internal senses—or bodily functions, often do, most times during sleep. In waking hours, the interpretation of sensory signals dominates priority on the mind, while others stay mostly pre-prioritized. However, too much prioritization for a set could reduce the rate at which others may be prioritized, or may also strain the set—since a set [or configuration] of chemical signals is a result of different rations provided from respective chemical signals. This continuous drip and drip may result in a strain and then loss of efficiency—or quality. This sometimes shows, conceptually, in the need to change posture or gaze, as the existing one is maxed out.

So, even while awake, prioritization often changes, in instances, across senses. For pain, major depression and others, there is something higher than prioritization, which is the principal spot—a destination that thoroughly dominates other sets, conceptually.

During sleep, most of the sets of signals for wakefulness are reset, while those for internal senses get prioritized and then practice what their normality is. This is necessary because there are instances during the day when most are pre-prioritized while toeing the most recent prioritization update, to function as usual. This, conceptually, stabilizes regulation for blood sugar, blood pressure, heart rate, breathing, and several other functions.

Simply, a reason humans sleep is so that different sets of electrical and chemical signals get prioritized, for information on the functional range for regulation of internal senses, so that when they are pre-prioritized, the last updated information, shapes the limits and extents of functions, to create alerts if breakouts occur. This switch in prioritization also makes sets of signals for external senses with little to no activity, refresh and reset for the next wakefulness cycle. Conceptually

In neuroscience, sensory relay hubs include the thalamus and the olfactory bulb—for smell, for integration of incoming sensory signals. It is theorized that sleep occurs when sets of [electrical and chemical] signals array in a different way from the regular wakefulness architecture that allow for distributions. These arrays ensure that when there are ambient sounds, light, smell or others, they may not get distributed as they should, for interpretation, making sleep effective. The array has to be quite disrupted, conceptually, for sleep to break. It is when signals are arrayed in this way—from those in the relay hubs, that those in other parts, notice that nothing might be coming in and dreams may play out, conceptually.

Simply, for humans to fall asleep, the signals at relay hubs change their arrays, so distributive arrangement for interpretation of external senses during the day is no longer present. When other sets notice that there are no incoming distributions, they sometimes free will around in interpretation blocks, resulting in dreams and almost an exact experience of reality, though different, conceptually.

Dreams

Dreams, conceptually, are a result of the interactions of electrical and chemical signals. Where they follow the same routine, one relaying to the other and taking off again. Signals interact more freely for dreams because there is little to no interference [or wheel] by senses—or reality. Signals can navigate across several paths and destinations, mostly of memory, but including emotions and feelin

Why does sleep sometimes include dreams and other times do not? It is theorized that prioritization capacity for sets of signals may determine dreaming or not. During the day, while sets of signals for sensory interpretations are predominantly prioritized, some sets of internal signals also get prioritized, like during digestion, passing water, drinking water, jogging—breathing and heart rate, walking, and so forth. This implies that vacillation between sets of signals for sleep and sets of signals for wakefulness [so to speak] can be prioritized within an interval.

During dreams, sometimes, there could be the availability to mirror what happened during the day by prioritization, while there are little to no external sensory inputs. This is a reason dreaming is possible, conceptually. Dreams play interpretation across destinations of chemical signals with little to no inputs. This makes it possible to have events—from memory, with emotion and feeling tags—at times.

Simply, the interpretations are already on the mind. Dreams are states that allow electrical and chemical signals to run relays and stops that result in experiences, from those interpretations, similar to reality but different.

Dreaming while sleeping may also be explained conceptually by the split of electrical signals in some sets. This split is theorized to be more uniform during sleep phases allowing for broader prioritization possibilities.

In brain science, there is the concept of saltatory conduction where some electrical signals leap from node to node, over myelinated axons.

It is theorized that in a set, some split, going ahead of others to interact with chemical signals like they had before, such that if the input matches, their processes go on, if not, the incoming one goes in the right direction, explaining the terms predictive coding, processing, and prediction error.

During sleep, since there are little to no sensory inputs, the corrections may not be necessary, so the incoming one follows in the same direction [for uniformity], so it is like an all-forward relay by electrical signals, making dreams possible while prioritizations proceed for internal senses, conceptually.

Dreams may be delightful, distressing, or provide companionship depending on what destinations the electrical signals relay to, which could result in those states. Dreams may also be helpful in prioritizing some memories, as well as to keep a sense of life—so to speak, while deeply asleep

Loneliness

Loneliness is, conceptually, the absence of relays [electrical signals] at certain destinations [chemical signals]. This absence at destinations that may indicate companionship, engagement, togetherness, support, community and so forth, results in the experience of not-there, or loneliness.

This may correlate or not with people being around. It may also correlate with things to do or not. It may be the mind, at a destination or not. It is possible to relate this destination and relay to some experiences to understand what may be responsible and how to fix it in some ways, including options by robots and AI, by some.

There are several other explanations for dreams, sleep, and loneliness, but this explores conceptual angles, using the electrical and chemical signals of the human mind.

There is a recent article on The Cut, What to Do When You’re Feeling Lonely, listing, “Go for a Walk, Just Make Plans, Browse a Bookstore, Start a Mini Book Club.”

There is a recent feature in The Conversation, The loneliness myth: what our shared stories of feeling alone reveal about why you can’t ‘fix’ this very human experience, stating that, “In stories, we have the opportunity to share our loneliness with others, unburdening ourselves, and no longer keeping our loneliness exclusively to ourselves. An essential component of the suffering in loneliness is often the fact that we are alone with our loneliness.”

There is a feature in the New Yorker, What Are Dreams For?, stating that, “Neuroscientists have long had an explanation for our somnolent twitches. During rem sleep, they say, our bodies are paralyzed to prevent us from acting out our dreams; the twitches are the movements that slip through the cracks. They’re dream debris—outward hints of an inner drama. Human adults spend only about two hours of each night in rem sleep. But fetuses, by the third trimester, are in rem for around twenty hours a day—researchers using ultrasound can see their eyes flitting to and fro—and their whole bodies seem to twitch. When a mother feels her baby kick, it may be because the baby is in rem sleep. Once born, babies continue to spend an unusual amount of time in rem, often sleeping for sixteen hours a day and dreaming for eight.”

There is a recent feature on TIME, What’s the Least Amount of Sleep You Need to Get?, stating that, “The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society both recommend a minimum of seven hours a night to maintain optimal health. There are two exceptions to this advice. Older adults typically need less sleep than people who are younger. For instance, someone who slept eight hours a night in their 40s might be able to function well with 6.5 hours a night in their 70s. Older people produce less of the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin, and they tend to have more medical conditions that can interfere with sleep. Chronic sleep deprivation over weeks, months, or years can lead to a host of problems.”

There is a recent feature in The Conversation, From diagnosing brain disorders to cognitive enhancement, 100 years of EEG have transformed neuroscience, stating that, “When many neurons are active at the same time, they produce an electrical signal strong enough to spread instantaneously through the conductive tissue of the brain, skull and scalp. EEG electrodes placed on the head can record these electrical signals. Neural oscillations are thought to be important for effective communication between specialized brain regions. For example, theta oscillations that cycle at 4 to 8 hertz are important for communication between brain regions involved in memory encoding and retrieval in animals and humans.”

There is another feature in Scientific American, Advanced Meditation Alters Consciousness and Our Basic Sense of Self, where the authors wrote, “When we discuss the loss of consciousness during advanced meditation cessation events, it is crucial to differentiate it from unconsciousness that is caused by anesthesia, coma (including medically induced coma), physical trauma such as head injuries, and naturally occurring events such as sleep. Unlike these states, cessation events in advanced meditation represent a peak meditative experience in which ordinary self-awareness and sensory processing are temporarily suspended.”

Stephen does research in conceptual brain science, centered on the electrical and chemical signals of nerve cells, for a model of how the human mind works.

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